


Partners

by theprydonian_archivist



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Episode: s03e13 Last of the Time Lords, Episode: s04e17 The End of Time (1), Episode: s04e18 The End of Time (2), Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-17
Updated: 2011-05-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 00:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7198835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprydonian_archivist/pseuds/theprydonian_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor finally made the right offer, but he doesn't know if he can accept.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partners

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Versaphile, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Prydonian](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Prydonian). Deciding that it needed to have a more long-term home, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact the e-mail address on [The Prydonian collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/theprydonian/profile).

_"With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honor. 'Cause you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space... that's ownership enough."_

The way he said it, the tone, the implications, made the Master pause. What he was suggesting was partnership. And that was what made this different from the last offer.  
So many times, he had tried to get the Doctor to come with him. When they were children, on Gallifrey, just graduated, he proposed it out of some kind of love. But later, when it had been inevitably brought up throughout almost all of his regenerations, it was more about loneliness. The Doctor was the one soul in the universe who could understand any part of him. But still, the Doctor refused, and the Master gathered more and more unsavory compainions like Daleks and Cybermen, while the Doctor mocked him with multitudes of boring, pointless humans, gaping in awe at the simplest of things.  
His cruel mockery of an offer on the Valient had been harsher than it must have appeared. As the Doctor spoke, all he could hear were his own endless offers, always as partners, as equals, and here was the Doctor, showing his true colors. He didn't want partners. He wanted pets. People to be controlled, manipulated. No wonder he chose those loyal, simpleminded humans. They would have done anything for him.  
Strays, Martha had said, lifetimes ago.  
But this felt real. This felt like the old days, like an apology for the first refusal. He could see tears in the Doctor's eyes, and he almost got a little teary himself.  
He could see them, standing at the console of the TARDIS, piloting it together. He could imagine regenerations worth of fantastic adventures and being content with that, if only for a moment.  
But then, as the old man Wilfred spoke up and wrenched him back to reality, he came to his senses. It never would have worked. Because the Doctor, the one who was so determined to save everyone, couldn't save him.  
He was too far gone.

* * *

As before, critiques encouraged. :)


End file.
